Page:Hephaestus, Persephone at Enna, and Sappho in Leucadia.djvu/26

 The sad-aisled avenues of evening stars; The Future, like an opal dawn, unfurls To me, and all the dreaming Long Ago Lies wide and luring as the open Deep. And so, still half in gloom and half in sun Shall men and women dwell as I have dwelt. Half happy and half sad their days shall fall, And grief shall only learn beside the grave How beauteous life can be, how deep is love. As snow makes soft Earth’s vernal green, so tears Shall make its laughter sweet, and lovers strange To thee and me, gray Mother, many years From now shall feel this thing and dimly know The bitter-sweetness of this hour to me, Whom Life has given unto Death and Death Back unto Life—both ghost and goddess, lo, Who faced these mortal tears to fathom love!